THE PONIES OF CONNEMARA. 341 



That, as this mare suggests, there is a considerable blending of types in 

 the Clifden breed, becomes more and more evident the more it is studied. 

 Striking evidence of the blending we have in a very typical 12.3 hands flea- 

 bitten grey mare — of her three foals one was a yellow dun, one a light grey, 

 and one nearly black. The dun foal was said to be the best of the three ; 

 it perhaps reproduced fairly accurately the traits of the indigenous ancestors 

 of the Clifden section of the Connemara ponies. 



That the foal of grey parents is sometimes dun seems remarkable enough, 

 but it is really no more remarkable than that the offspring of white wild 

 cattle should be sometimes red, or the offspring of white rabbits grey, or of 

 blue fantails being white — it is probably in most cases due to reversion to 

 the remote ancestors controlling the development. Darwin in discussmg 

 the colour of the horse, says, " I have endeavoured, but with poor success, to 

 discover whether duns, which are so much oftener striped than other 

 coloured horses, are ever produced from the crossing of two horses neither 

 of which is dun."* Had inquiries been made in the West of Ireland, many 

 instances of dun foals from parents neither of which was of a dun colour 

 would doubtless have been heard of. 



During my visit to the West of Ireland I saw quite a number of short- 

 legged mares that presented the more striking characters of the Clifden 

 strain ; but I neither saw nor heard of any pure-bred foals or stallions of 

 this, in many ways, the most valuable of all the types of Irish ponies. The 

 Clifden breed seems to me to be well worth preserving, not only because 

 well adapted for the country, but also because it would prove invaluable for 

 crossing with other breeds. There are nowhere else, as far as I know, m 

 the British Islands, ponies with so much stamina as those I have included in 

 the Clifden section. As already indicated, they are more horses on pony 

 legs than true ponies, which implies they can be readily " improved " either 

 by better treatment during the first winter or by crossing. Some of them 

 crossed with Arabs would give, I believe, ideal ponies for mounted infantry, 

 while others crossed with carefully selected hunter sires, or with hardy, non- 

 impressive thoroughbred horses, would produce remounts for light cavalry 

 as large as are likely to be of use in, or capable of surviving under the 

 trying experiences of, actual warfare. When the mild climate and the 

 extent of the moors and mountains of Connemara are taken into considera- 

 tion, it may, I think, be safely asserted that Connemara could produce 

 ponies — say one thousand annually — suitable for mounted infantry (alike in 

 size, hardiness, staying power, and intelligence), at a lower figure than any 

 other district in Great Britain or Ireland. 



Before concluding what I have to say of the different types of Conne- 

 mara ponies, I ought to refer to a small breed in process of formation in the 

 vicinity of Clifden. The owner of these ponies informs me that he has 

 always bred from small mares, with the result, as the figure suggests, that 

 his stock presents all the characters of true ponies, and are hence in their 

 build more like Shetland or Welsh ponies than the smaller members of the 

 Clifden breed, and though about the same size, they differ considerably 

 from the old Connemara duns (which are supposed to bear the greatest 

 resemblance to Andalusian horses) and from upland ponies with large 

 heads sometimes seen in the Carna district 



•"Animals and Plants under Domestication." vol. i., p. 59. 



